- If I'm going to be spending more time at home watching movies, I guess it's time I finally invest in a truly magnificent home theater. Via.
Today in movie studios' half-witted attempts to make themselves obsolete: They're moving forward as quickly as they can to cut theaters out of movie-going equation. The New York Times has a solid rundown of the fallout from an FCC ruling that allows studios to stream copy-protected movies directly to your TV. For now, the plan is to have movies available on-demand shortly after they premiere in theaters, but I'm guessing that token delay won't last long. The CliffsNotes version:
Right now, theaters get an exclusive period—120 days, on average—to serve up new movies. Then the releases appear on television video-on-demand services at a price of about $4.99. Armed with the new copy-blocking technology, studios want to offer new movies on video-on-demand services about 45 days after they arrive in theaters, for a premium price of $24.99.
On one hand, it's easy to see where studios are coming from: They see a revenue source that isn't being tapped, so—just like all of us when we see something we want that isn't being tapped—they want to go after that shit.
On the other hand, it's like my urologist always tells me: Just 'cause someone something can be tapped doesn't necessarily mean you should tap it.
